SPAIN: Carmona, Well Known For Its Wine, Olive Oil, Grain Cattle And Gastronomy

Carmona is a town of southwestern Spain, in the province of Seville; it lies 33 km north-east of Seville.

Carmona is built on a ridge overlooking the central plain of Andalusia; to the north is the Sierra Morena, with the peak of San Cristobal to the south.

The city is known for its thriving trade in wine, olive oil, grain and cattle, and holds an annual fair in April.

Carmona was originally a Tartessian-Turdetani settlement.

With the arrival of Phoenician traders from Tyre, Carmona was transformed into a city, and centuries later became a Roman stronghold of Hispania Baetica.

It was known as Carmo in the time of Julius Caesar.

The city was made even more impregnable during the long occupation of the Moors, who erected walls around it, and built fountains and palaces within.

In 1247, Ferdinand III of Castile captured the town, and bestowed on it the Latin motto Sicut Lucifer lucet in Aurora, sic in Wandalia Carmona, as the Morning-star shines in the Dawn, so shines Carmona in Andalusia.

Carmona has a Mediterranean climate with a sunny spring and typically some rain in that season.

In October, the average temperature ranges from a minimum of 13 °C to a maximum of 26 °C.

The city experiences a moderate level of annual precipitation and has pleasant winter temperatures.

Main tourist sights in Camona

- Palace of King Don Pedro, built in the 13th century by Peter I of Castile. It was damaged by an earthquake in 1504.

- Moorish alcazar

- Palace of Rueda

- Palace of the Marquess of Torres

- Seville Gate Palace

- Baroque palaces of Alonso Bernal Escamilla, Aguilar, Dominguez, and Lasso

- Cordoba Gate, the gate on the road to Córdoba, partly of Roman construction

- Seville Gate, of Carthaginian origins, has the remains of later Roman additions, and was modified in the Middle Ages by the Moors and the Christians.

- Marchena Gate, built during the Almohad domination of Spain

- Roman Bridge

- Remains of the Via Augusta

- Tree-lined avenue of Alfonso XIII

- Roman Necropolis, discovered in 1881. It is located close to the town, beside the Seville road, and contains more than nine hundred family tombs dating from the second century BC to the fourth century AD.

Enclosed in subterranean chambers hewn from the rock, the tombs are often frescoed and contain a series of niches in which many of the funeral urns remain intact.

Some of the larger tombs have vestibules with stone benches for funeral banquets and several retain carved family emblems.

- The Tomb of the Elephant and the Tomb of Servilia in the necropolis

- Roman Amphitheatre, also discovered in 1881, together with a group of tombs, all belonging to the first four centuries AD, near the original necropolis.

- Ayuntamiento (Town Hall)

- Cave of the Batida

- Fountain of the Lions

- Hospital of the Mercy and the Charity Church of Saint Bartholomew

- Tower of the Peak

- Market

- Cerezo Theatre

Religious buildings in Carmona

- Church of San Pedro. Its tower is a medieval replica of the Giralda bell tower of the Cathedral of Seville.

- Church of Santa Maria de la Asuncion

- Church of El Salvador, in Baroque style

- Church of the Convent of Santa Ana

- Church of San Blas

- Church of San Felipe

- Church of Santiago

- Convent of the Immaculate Conception

- Convent of the Trinity

- Convent of Las Descalzas Discalced Carmelite Nuns

- Convent of Santa Clara, with a Mudejar church renovated in 1664 in Baroque style

- Hermitage of San Mateo

- Hermitage of Our Lady of Real or San Anton

- Ermita de la Virgen de Gracia (Our Lady of Grace, the patron saint of Carmona)

Carmona's restaurants and bars demonstrate a variety of Spanish cuisine including tapas and other dishes.

The city is known for its traditional Andalusian cooking.

A pub crawl of various bars, called the Ruta de las tapas or Tapas Route is noteworthy; it is marked with blue and white signs, and even appears in the seal of the city.

Salmorejo
Salmorejo is a puree consisting of tomato and bread, originating from Cordoba in Andalucia, south Spain.

It is made from tomatoes, bread, oil, garlic.

Normally, the tomatoes are skinned and then pureed with the other ingredients.

The puree is served cold and may be garnished with diced Spanish serrano ham and diced hard-boiled eggs.

Salmorejo is more pink-orange in appearance than gazpacho, and is also much thicker and creamier in texture, because it includes more bread.

There are several variations in Andalusia, including ardoria and porra antequerana with bits of tuna as topping.

Salmorejo is also the name given to a marinade typical of Canary Islands cuisine.

It is used to flavour meat before cooking, especially rabbit or conejo en salmorejo which is a specialty of the islands.

Typical marinade ingredients include salt, garlic, paprika and hot peppers.

Typical Carmonan dishes include: sopa de picadillo a chicken soup, pringa, chickpeas, snails, salmorejo, spinach, tagarnina or thistles, Serrano ham, partridge from the mountains, gazpacho, chickpea soup, tomato soup, potatoes, and cuajados or curdled eggs.

Sweets include: torta inglesa, hojaldres or puff pastry, rice with milk, torrija or fried toasted bread with wine, milk or honey, polvorones or shortbread, almond cakes, chestnut stew with cinnamon, porridge sprinkled with cinnamon, and cortadillos or sweet cakes.

A variety of desserts are made in the convents of the city, mainly by the nuns of Santa Clara.

A common alcoholic beverage is Anise Los Hermanos, which is distilled and packaged in Carmona; it comes in three degrees of dryness: crisp, sweet and semi.

With its rich historical and artistic patrimony lending the city an especially atmospheric appearance, Carmona has been the setting of numerous films,and continues to attract movie crews.

The Location Managers Guild of America, an association that coordinates shoot locations for movie and television production companies from the United States, has shown special interest in the city centre.



Tourism Observer

USA: Southwest Announces 22 New Routes

Southwest Airlines, which plans to grow capacity 3.5% in 2017, has released details on 22 new and seasonal routes, including four international routes originating from its forthcoming international concourse at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida.

As of Nov. 30, 2016, the Dallas, Texas-based carrier had taken delivery of 131 of 155 Boeing 737-800s on order; 32 were delivered through Nov. 30, approximately three per month. At this rate, the remaining 737-800s should be delivered by July, in time for the planned entry-into-service of Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft, for which Southwest is the launch customer. Southwest has 200 737 MAXs on order.

Southwest’s new five-gate international Concourse A at Fort Lauderdale’s Terminal 1 is scheduled to open June 4. On that date, Southwest will launch 1X-daily service to Grand Cayman. On June 6, the airline will begin new routes to Montego Bay (Jamaica), Belize and Cancun (Mexico). The new routes are pending government approvals and will bring to eight the total number of international routes Southwest will operate from Fort Lauderdale (along with Nassau, Bahamas, and Cuban cities Havana, Varadero and Santa Clara).

Additionally out of Fort Lauderdale, Southwest plans to launch new 1X-daily service to Washington Dulles, 1X-daily service to Philadelphia, and 1X-daily service to Orlando beginning June 4.

The airline will also launch a new 2X-daily Tampa-New York LaGuardia service, as well as a weekend Pensacola-Denver route.

The airline also announced new Ohio routes beginning June 4, concentrating on operations out of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and Cleveland International Airport. Southwest plans to end operations out of airports in both Akron-Canton and Dayton on June 3. The new Ohio routes include daily Cincinnati-Baltimore, Cincinnati-Chicago Midway, and Cleveland-Atlanta service. The airline will increase Cleveland-St Louis service to 2X-daily.

Also out of the US midwest, Southwest will introduce new Indianapolis-Newark and Nashville-Minneapolis service, starting June 4.

On the US west coast, Southwest is boosting service from San Diego with two new routes (San Diego-Boise, Idaho and San Diego-Salt Lake City, Utah) and three seasonal routes (San Diego-Newark; San Diego-Spokane, Washington; and San Diego-Indianapolis, Indiana). All routes will begin June 4.

Additional new west coast routes to launch on June 4 include Portland, Oregon-San Francisco; San Jose, California-Reno, Nevada; and a seasonal route between Oakland, California-Newark.

An expected explosion in U.S. tourism to Cuba will likely take years to materialize even after U.S. airlines resume commercial flights to the Caribbean island this week for the first time since 1961, industry officials said.

JetBlue Airways Corp will pilot its historic flight from Florida to the Cuban city of Santa Clara on Wednesday, the latest step in normalizing relations that earlier this year included a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama and the first U.S. cruise to the island in decades.

The planes may some day be filled with U.S. beach-goers, looking for an economical Caribbean break at resorts favored by Canadians and Europeans on the sandy keys north of Santa Clara.

But for now, U.S. law and constraints on Cuba's tourism infrastructure will act as brakes on increasing demand, experts said.

Congress has yet to lift a trade embargo that prohibits U.S. citizens from visiting Cuba as tourists. The Obama administration has approved 12 categories of exceptions to the ban ranging from cultural, religious and educational travel to business and visiting family.

That means JetBlue's initial flights will mainly carry Cuban-Americans visiting relatives or other U.S. citizens interested in seeing the Che Guevara Mausoleum and other cultural sites.

Eventually, up to 25 flights a day by various carriers will connect the United States and the Cuban provinces, with another 20 to Havana, under an agreement reached by the two Cold War foes as part of a gradual détente begun in December 2014.

Services on Silver Airways and American Airlines Group Inc from the Miami area to other outlying provinces are the next to start, in September.

While the direct flights could carry more than a million U.S. residents to Cuba annually, according to John Kavulich, head of the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council Inc, he and other experts believe that mark will not be reached for several years.

In the beginning, the new routes are expected to absorb customers from the average of 17 charter flights that Cuba's government says have arrived from the United States daily for several years.

"The fares that have come out so far, announced by American and JetBlue, have been super competitive," said Bob Guild, vice president at Marazul Charters Inc. "I don't have any question that it's going to shrink," he said of the charter services. Marazul, one of the largest charter companies operating to Cuba, plans to scale back services to provinces this fall but continue with its Havana flights while commercial airlines await approval, Guild said.

There is already a boom in visits to Cuba from the United States. Some 300,000 Cubans living in the United States now travel home annually. In 2015, the Cuban government reported 161,233 Americans visited, compared to 91,254 in 2014, and arrivals through June nearly doubled over the same period last year, a trend that the dawn of commercial flights can only further.

"The fact that travelers can book flights directly online not only streamlines that process and makes it more affordable, it adds a feeling of legality," said Collin Laverty of Cuban Educational Travel.

But another barrier to increased U.S. travel is that Cuba's hotels, bed and breakfasts, transportation services and amenities are already stretched to the limit, with a record 3.5 million foreign arrivals last year. Higher hotel prices, pegged to the U.S. dollar, might push out some travelers from Europe and Canada, creating more space for Americans, said Emilio Morales, CEO of Miami-based Havana Consulting Group. Private bed and breakfasts would absorb what they could of increased demand, he said.

Over time, airlines are betting travel restrictions will be further relaxed and want to get their foot in the door before Obama leaves office next year.

"While all of the flights are unlikely to operate at capacity, the airlines want to plant their respective flags," Kavulich said.

JetBlue Airways Corp To Begin Flights From Florida To Cuba

An expected explosion in U.S. tourism to Cuba will likely take years to materialize even after U.S. airlines resume commercial flights to the Caribbean island this week for the first time since 1961, industry officials said.

JetBlue Airways Corp will pilot its historic flight from Florida to the Cuban city of Santa Clara on Wednesday, the latest step in normalizing relations that earlier this year included a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama and the first U.S. cruise to the island in decades.

The planes may some day be filled with U.S. beach-goers, looking for an economical Caribbean break at resorts favored by Canadians and Europeans on the sandy keys north of Santa Clara.

But for now, U.S. law and constraints on Cuba's tourism infrastructure will act as brakes on increasing demand, experts said.

Congress has yet to lift a trade embargo that prohibits U.S. citizens from visiting Cuba as tourists. The Obama administration has approved 12 categories of exceptions to the ban ranging from cultural, religious and educational travel to business and visiting family.

That means JetBlue's initial flights will mainly carry Cuban-Americans visiting relatives or other U.S. citizens interested in seeing the Che Guevara Mausoleum and other cultural sites.

Eventually, up to 25 flights a day by various carriers will connect the United States and the Cuban provinces, with another 20 to Havana, under an agreement reached by the two Cold War foes as part of a gradual détente begun in December 2014.

Services on Silver Airways and American Airlines Group Inc from the Miami area to other outlying provinces are the next to start, in September.

While the direct flights could carry more than a million U.S. residents to Cuba annually, according to John Kavulich, head of the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council Inc, he and other experts believe that mark will not be reached for several years.

In the beginning, the new routes are expected to absorb customers from the average of 17 charter flights that Cuba's government says have arrived from the United States daily for several years.

"The fares that have come out so far, announced by American and JetBlue, have been super competitive," said Bob Guild, vice president at Marazul Charters Inc. "I don't have any question that it's going to shrink," he said of the charter services. Marazul, one of the largest charter companies operating to Cuba, plans to scale back services to provinces this fall but continue with its Havana flights while commercial airlines await approval, Guild said.

There is already a boom in visits to Cuba from the United States. Some 300,000 Cubans living in the United States now travel home annually. In 2015, the Cuban government reported 161,233 Americans visited, compared to 91,254 in 2014, and arrivals through June nearly doubled over the same period last year, a trend that the dawn of commercial flights can only further.

"The fact that travelers can book flights directly online not only streamlines that process and makes it more affordable, it adds a feeling of legality," said Collin Laverty of Cuban Educational Travel.

But another barrier to increased U.S. travel is that Cuba's hotels, bed and breakfasts, transportation services and amenities are already stretched to the limit, with a record 3.5 million foreign arrivals last year. Higher hotel prices, pegged to the U.S. dollar, might push out some travelers from Europe and Canada, creating more space for Americans, said Emilio Morales, CEO of Miami-based Havana Consulting Group. Private bed and breakfasts would absorb what they could of increased demand, he said.

Over time, airlines are betting travel restrictions will be further relaxed and want to get their foot in the door before Obama leaves office next year.

"While all of the flights are unlikely to operate at capacity, the airlines want to plant their respective flags," Kavulich said.

American Airlines Celebrates 25 Years of Service to Cuba

American Airlines is celebrating 25 years of charter flights to Cuba. The carrier’s first flight to Cuba departed from Miami to Havana on April 5, 1991.

The DFW-based carrier boasted of this quarter-century old experience when it last month submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Transportation, wherein it proposed the operation of 18 daily flights from Miami to Havana, Santa Clara, Holguín, Varadero, Camagüey and Cienfuegos. American also proposed to serve Havana from Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago and Los Angeles. Philadelphia was not included in the proposed routes.

Leo Rodriguez, a Miami-based Tower Planner who has coordinated American’s Cuba charter flights for the past 25 years, reflected on his experience. “Back then, going to Cuba was like going to the moon. It was not like it is today. But I always thought our work was important and we were laying the foundation for a regular operation. It has been really exciting because we were pioneers.”

Last February the United States and Cuba signed a new civil aviation agreement, which allows for up to 110 additional scheduled flights. Of these, only 20 can go to Havana, the rest are to be allocated to other Cuban cities.

American Airlines (AA) applied for more than half of the possible slots to Havana plus routes to five other cities. The airline has a large hub in Miami, and has made it clear that it will play a major role in the future flights between both countries. According to Rodriguez “It’s going to be the culmination of 25 years of work. We have worked really hard and all those efforts are about to pay off. I am proud to have been part of something that is about to give birth to something bigger.”

CUBA: Direct Flights Between US And Cuba Will Commence After 50 Years

The new direct flights from the U.S. to Cuba may impact Cayman Airways.

The United States and Cuba signed an agreement Tuesday that paves the way for up to 110 commercial flights per day between the two countries.

Several U.S. carriers, including American Airlines and Jet Blue, immediately indicated that they will seek permits to fly into Havana and other popular Cuban cities, with dozens of daily flights expected to begin as early as this fall.

The resumption of commercial flights between the two countries has been hailed as a significant development after five decades of Cold War opposition and is expected to lead to a surge in tourism from the U.S. to Cuba.

The move could have an impact on tourism across the Caribbean, with Cuba expected to take some market share from other destinations in the region which rely heavily on American visitors.

It is also likely to impact Cayman Airways, which currently flies daily to Havana from Grand Cayman, and once a week from Cayman Brac to Holguin in eastern Cuba.

The Cuba flights, one of Cayman Airways’ profitable routes, rely, in part, on travelers transiting through Cayman from Cuba to the U.S., or vice versa.

Fabian Whorms, CEO of Cayman Airways, said, “The new Air Service Agreement between Cuba and the USA has been in the works for the past year and comes as no surprise to Cayman Airways.”

He added, “Cayman Airways will continue to monitor the situation over the next eight to 10 months in order to be able to address in a timely manner, any changes necessary to our network and frequency.”

In an earlier interview, Mr. Whorms said he believed there would still be a significant role for Cayman to play in the Cuba market.

He said the “tremendous increase” in demand that would result if the U.S. allowed unrestricted travel to Cuba would not be immediately met by an increase in supply from U.S. carriers.

The agreement allows 20 regular daily U.S. flights to Havana, in addition to the current 10-15 charter flights a day. The rest would be to other Cuban cities.

American air carriers now have 15 days to apply to the Department of Transportation for permits to offer the flights.

U.S. visitors to Cuba will still have to qualify under one of the travel categories legally authorized by the U.S. government. Tourism is still barred by law, but the number of legal reasons to go to Cuba – from organizing professional meetings to distributing information to Cubans – has grown so large and is so loosely enforced that the distinction from tourism has blurred significantly.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Cuban Transportation Minister Adel Yzquierdo Rodriguez signed the deal in a ceremony at Havana’s Hotel Nacional.

“Today is a historic day in the relationship between Cuba and the U.S.,” said Foxx. “It represents a critically important milestone in the U.S. effort to engage with Cuba.”

Yzquierdo Rodriguez said “the adoption of this memorandum is an important step that will soon permit the establishment of regular flights between the United States and Cuba.”

Nearly 160,000 U.S. leisure travelers flew to Cuba last year, along with hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans visiting family, mostly on charter flights out of Florida.

Commercial flights could bring hundreds of thousands more U.S. travelers a year and make the travel process far easier.

American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said the company plans to bid on routes from Miami and other unspecified “American hubs.”

The carrier has been operating U.S.-Cuba charter flights since April 1991, the longest of any U.S. airline, and currently offers 22 weekly flights out of Miami to Havana, Camaguey, Cienfuegos, Holguin and Santa Clara. American also flies from Tampa to Havana and Holguin, and between Los Angeles and Havana.

United Airlines is also looking to serve Havana from some of its hubs, spokesman Luke Punzenberger said. The carrier’s major hubs include Chicago, Houston, Washington and Newark, New Jersey. It currently does not fly charters to Cuba.

JetBlue said it is eager to offer service between multiple cities in the United States and the island. Spokesman Doug McGraw said “interest in Cuba has reached levels not seen for a generation.” The carrier currently flies charters out of New York, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale to various Cuban destinations.

USA: 93 Sick After Shigella Outbreak Occurred At The Mariscos San Juan Restaurant

California health officials are investigating a bacterial outbreak after at least 93 people were sickened.

An outbreak of shigella occurred at the Mariscos San Juan Restaurant on 4th Street in San Jose, California, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department said. Individuals started to report symptoms including fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea last Saturday, health officials said. Currently, at least 24 of those sickened have been diagnosed with shigella, according to the health department.

The restaurant was closed on Sunday and health department officials are asking anyone who has eaten at the restaurant and developed symptoms, including fever or sudden onset of diarrhea, to see a doctor immediately. No specific source of contamination has been identified, according to the health department.

Health department officials said many of those who had been in the intensive care unit had been discharged, but they were warning anyone with symptoms to stop working to curb the infection.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said officials would be especially concerned about improper food handling or if the produce was contaminated with polluted water.

"If produce comes in from the developing world, on occasion fresh produce has been irrigated or freshened with polluted water," he explained.

The bacteria shigella can cause an infection called shigellosis, and symptoms usually appear one to two days after a person has been exposed to the bacteria, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms including diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain, and it usually resolves itself between five to seven days, though in rare cases the disease can be so dehydrating it can lead to dangerous complications. Young children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are at heightened risk for complications.

"This is serious business. It is a highly infectious agent," Schaffner said. "It usually takes very little bacteria to make people sick. That may account in part for the large number of patients in the outbreak."

Every year, 500,000 Americans are sickened with shigella, according to the CDC.